Rehab centre claims he had a heart attack, but family finds injuries on his neck and chest
Gajanan Choudhary (below) is survived by his wife, Sharda, mother and three daughters. Pics/Sneha Kharabe
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Gajanan Choudhary's family sent him to rehab to save his life, never suspecting that it would end up killing him. Less than 48 hours after he begged his wife to take him home, the rehab centre called to say he had died. The family was even more shocked when they found injuries on his neck and chest.
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Once a high-ranking official in a drug manufacturing company, the 46-year-old's drinking habit had left him without a job. "Ten days ago, we sent him to a de-addiction centre in Ulwe. They had asked for Rs 10,000 per month," said Prakash Choudhary, Gajanan's brother-in-law. "Last Saturday, Sharda went to give him home-cooked food, but he wasn't communicating much. When she asked him about it, he said he would tell her everything when he returned home," he added.
Gajanan Choudhary
On Monday, Sharda got an urgent call from the centre, and she went there to find her husband dead. The officials told her he had suffered a heart attack in his sleep. "The centre also handed over the death certificate to us. But when we took the body home, we found injury marks on his neck and chest. We strongly suspect that the centre did something to him," said Prakash.
Doctors at JJ Hospital carried out an in-camera post-mortem, which confirmed the injuries. "We have registered an Accidental Death Report (ADR) for now. We are waiting for the cause of death, according to which we can file an FIR," said Smita Jadhav, senior police inspector at the NRI police station. Despite repeated attempts to contact Dr Nilesh Doke, the head of the de-addiction centre, his phone remained switched off.
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